The border reeked of death.
Maria felt it the moment she stepped past the tree line the wrongness in the air, thick and suffocating. The forest here was sick. Leaves lay gray and brittle beneath her boots, and the ground pulsed faintly with dark energy.
Bone sigils marked the earth in jagged patterns, glowing with a dull, corpse-white light.
"He's close," Maria whispered.
Kael's expression was grim. "He wants to be seen."
The shadows shifted.
A figure emerged slowly, deliberately, as if the darkness itself bent to his will. He was taller than Kael with pale skin stretched too tight over sharp bone structure. A crown of fused bones rested upon his head, etched with runes that bled darkness.
The Ashen King smiled.
"Moon's Luna," he said smoothly. "You are… brighter than I expected."
Maria stood her ground, silver light flickering beneath her skin. "Leave this land."
The Ashen King laughed softly. "Still issuing commands. How adorable."
Kael stepped forward, power flaring violently. "You will address her with respect."
The Ashen King's hollow gaze slid to him.
"The Lycan King. Still playing guardian." His smile widened. "You kneel for her now. How the world changes."
"You rejected the Moon," Maria said. "You don't belong here."
His eyes gleamed. "And yet the Moon rejected me first."
Darkness surged.
Kael moved instantly, shifting mid-stride as he lunged but the Ashen King vanished, reappearing behind Maria in a blink.
She reacted without thinking.
Moonlight exploded outward, slamming into him and throwing him back several paces.
He landed smoothly, eyes burning with delight.
"Oh yes," he breathed. "You are perfect."
"You will not touch her," Kael snarled.
The Ashen King tilted his head. "I don't need to. Not yet." He lifted one skeletal hand, and the bone sigils flared violently.
The ground split.
Dark wolves clawed their way free, eyes empty, bodies stitched together with necromantic magic.
"Run," Kael ordered.
"No," Maria said, power surging. "Fight."
She raised her hands, summoning a wave of silver fire that tore through the undead wolves, reducing them to ash.
The Ashen King watched, fascinated. "Every strike binds you closer to fate."
Kael slammed into him, claws meeting darkness in a deafening clash. Power collided, shaking the forest itself.
Maria felt it Kael faltering.
"Kael!" she shouted.
The Ashen King twisted away, laughing as black energy lashed out, striking Kael and sending him crashing into a tree.
Rage surged through her but she remembered her training.
Control.
She stepped forward, voice steady. "You want me?"
The Ashen King paused, eyes locking onto hers.
"Then face me."
Moonlight gathered around her, brilliant and unyielding.
The Ashen King smiled slowly.
"Soon," he said. "When you are ready to choose."
With that, he dissolved into shadow, the bone sigils crumbling into dust.
Silence fell.
Maria rushed to Kael's side, dropping to her knees. "Talk to me."
Kael groaned, shifting back to human form, blood staining his side. He looked up at her, managing a grim smile.
"You scared him," he said hoarsely.
Her throat tightened. "He'll come back."
Kael reached for her hand, squeezing
weakly. "And we'll be ready."
As Maria helped him stand, one terrifying truth settled deep within her.
The Ashen King wasn't trying to destroy her.
He was trying to claim her.
And the war for the Moon's chosen had truly begun.